Antiskid device for chairs



W. H. RABE ANTISKID DEVICE FOR CHAIRS Filed NOV. 12, 1943 July 8, 1947.

IN VEN TOR.

- William b? fiah K l V v ITTORNfYS Patented July 8, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTISKID DEVICE FOR CHAIRS.-

William H. Babe, Upper Arlington, Ohio Application November 12, 1943, Serial No. 599,969

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an anti-skid device for chairs, and has for an object to provide an arrangementassociated with the rear legs of a chair arranged to prevent skidding of the chair when it is tilted rearwardly by the occupant.

Another object is to provide such an arrangement in the nature of an attachment which may be readily applied to a standard chair.

When in normal position on the floor, it is desirable that chairs be freely slidable on the floor. To assure this, it has become common to provide buttons of smooth metal on the bottom of chair legs. Whether or not such buttons are provided, it frequently occurs that a user will tilt chair back to angle exceeding the angle of repose so that the. rear legs of the chair will slide in a forward direction, precipitating the chair and its occupant to the floor, possibly causing injury.

It is an object to provide means to avoid such skidding while at the same timepermitting easy sliding of the chair along the floor when in normal position on the floor.

It is another object to arrange an anti-skid element on the rear legs of a chair in such a manner that it will normally be out of contact with the floor so that the chair may be slid easily but will come into. contact with the floor when the chair is tilted rearwardlyto an angle approaching a dangerous condition.

These and other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the attached drawings showing several illustrative embodiments of the invention and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a chair showing the invention applied to arear leg thereof, a. tilted position of the chair being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in cross-section, of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a side View of a part of a chair leg showing a modification;

Fig. 5 shows another modification; and

Fig. 6 shows a specially constructed rear chair leg embodying the invention.

Referring to said drawings, the numeral H indicates generally a chair which may be of any usual construction, including two rear legs 12. In the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, there is fixed to each of the rear legs an attachment generally designated I3 which consists of a forward side wall 130., a bottom wall 13b abutting the bottom of the leg, an extension I30 of the bottom wall, a rear wall l3d, and an extension thereof 13c.

As shown, there is also a web 13f which serves to stiffen and strengthen the parts. As shown, said web i3 extends into a slot [39 in the rear edge of the leg [2. The attachment is shown secured to the leg as by a nail or screw it passing through a hole in the member the and a nail or screw 15 passing, through the member ltd as well as by a nail or screw l6 passing through the bottom. plate [3b. As shown, the fastening member it also serves to hold in place a button ll preferably made of metal or other hard material and having a smooth surface to normally facilitate sliding of the chair on the floor. If desired, the button I! may be made integral with the attachment H3 or fixed thereto as by solder or other means.

The front legs are shown as provided with similar buttons Ha for the same purpose.

Secured to the extension I30 is a pad 53 of rubber or other friction material firmly secured to the plate as by glue or vulcanization, or, to facilitate removal and replacement, by such means as screws countersunk into the pad.

It will be seen that in the normal position of the chair, as shown in full lines in Fig. l, the chair contacts with the floor only by means of the buttons ll and lid so that it can be moved about readily by sliding the chair on the floor. However, if the chair is tilted back to a certain point, such as the dotted line position of Fig. 1, the friction material is will be brought into engagement with they floor. At this angle of inclination, or any greater angle, the frictional or adhesive characteristics of the pad 18 will assure that the chair will not skid forwardly, as might occur in the use of an ordinary chair, whether or not provided with conventional buttons. The parts are so arranged that the pad it will contact the floor at anangle of inclination well removed from the angle of repose. Therefore, there is no danger of the chair skidding although it is free to slide uponthe floor in the usual manner when the chair is in normal position.

Fig, 4 shows a modification in which the attachment, generally designated 29, is provided with a socket for receiving the bottom of the chair leg, the socket being either rectangular or circular in cross-section, depending upon what is desired for the particular type of chair to which it is to be attached. It is held in place merely by friction or also by means of a screw, such as screw I6, passing through a button, such as ll. A pad 18a of friction material may be of the same construc-tion as the pad [8 and will function in the same manner.

Fig. 5 shows a device which is merely fastened to the rear edge of the chair leg as by nails or screws M. The button lib, if used, may be of conventional construction. If no button is used, the device would be attached to the chair at a correspondingly higher point. The pad 18b of friction material may be of the same construction and perform the same functions as the pad 18.

The form shown in Fig. 6 contemplates a special leg construction, the leg having a bottom surface 110 and being formed with a rearward extension 2| of approximately the form shown, which extension is formed with a recess 22 within which is mounted a pad 160 of friction mate rial which, in this instance, could either be glued in place or attached by means of a nail or other fastening device 23. It is of course to be under-. stood that instead of providing the leg witha rearward extension 21 the depth of the chair leg may be made suficient to have its rear edge extend directly upward from the rear edge of the recess 22. In that case, about half of the bottom of the leg would normally serve to support the chair and the rear half of the bottom of the leg would be inclined upwardly and rearwardly and serve to support the friction pad 160.

It will be noted that the constructions shown and described will serve admirably to accomplish the objects stated above. It is to be understood however, that the constructions disclosed above are intended merely as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting as various modifications therein may be made Without departing from the invention as defined by a proper interpretation of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In a chair having a pair of front and a pair of rigid rear legs, means at the lower end of each of said rear legs providing supporting surfaces at the bottom of each of said rear legs comprising a downwardly facing surface centered approximately in line with the longitudinal axis of the leg and extending generally transverse to said axis, adapted to rest upon and slidably engage the floor when the chair is in normal posi tion and all four legs bear upon the floor, and a downwardly-facing friction surface arranged rearwardly and upwardly of each of said siidable surfaces and each closely adjacent to its respective slidable surface, said slidable and friction surfaces being in fixed relationship to the respective leg and to each other, and said friction surfaces being above the floor when the chair is in normal position but engaging the floor when the chair is tilted rearwardly whereby the slidable surfaces are raised from the floor when the chair is tilted still further rearwardly, thus preventing skidding of the bottoms of the rear legs when the chair is tilted rearwardly by the occupant.

2. Attachment means for the bottom of the rear legs of a chair having a pair of front and a pair of rigid rear legs, said attachment means having supporting surfaces comprising means constituting a downwardly-facing surface adapted to be centered approximately in line with the longitudinal axis of the leg of a chair to which it is attached, which surface extends generally transverse to such axis and is adapted to rest upon and slidably engage the floor when the chair is in a normal position and all four legs bear upon the floor, said attachment means being also provided with a downwardly-facing friction surface arranged rearwardly and upwardly of the slidable surface closely adjacent and in fixed relationship to said slidable surface, said means providing said surfaces being adapted to be rigidly connected to the leg, said friction surface being above the floor when the chair is in normal position but engaging the floor when the chair is tilted rearwardly whereby the slidable surface is caused to be raised from the floor when the chair is tilted still further rearwardly, thus preventing skidding of the bottoms of the rear legs when the chair is tilted rearwardly by the occupant.

WILLIAM H. RABE.

BEFERENES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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